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FEATURED ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Hank Schyma of The Southern Backtones by Tina Peek
NAME: Hank Schyma (Vox/Guitars) UNIQUE TRAITS: Pro Storm Chaser / Animal Control BAND NAME: Southern Backtones WEBSITE: www.southernbacktones.com MYSPACE SITE: www.myspace.com/southernbacktones NAME: Hank Schyma BIRTH PLACE/HOMETOWN: Houston, Texas MUSIC LIKES: Everything but what's on my girlfriends IPod WORST HABIT: Little Debbie BEST TRAIT/QUALITY: Big Willy PET PEEVE: High pressure domes in the Great Plains, in May. FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Kansas PETS: 3 snakes WORST FEAR: Snotty children and vomiting. FAVORITE BEVERAGE: Root Beer BEST TOUR STORY: Live music is a visceral experience. Literally. Here are a few tales about bodily fluids, starting with one from Hank Schyma, front man of the Southern Backtones, with a tale of a bladder that could take no more. "One night we were headlining in New Orleans. Headlining usually sucks in that town because some bars are open all night, and on that night we arrived at 6 p.m. and started playing at 2:30 a.m. I was in the middle of a long song/long solo when I thought, 'After this song I have to take a restroom break!' I then discovered you can hold your pee and play the guitar, you can sing and hold your pee, but you can't sing, play the guitar and hold your pee when you're drunk. My urine drenched one of my pants legs and overflowed the top of my boot while we finished the song. I was so astonished that I unwillingly announced into the mike, 'I just pissed my pants.' The crowd loved it! And we didn't have to take a break."

ONE SUPERPOWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE: To sing like Elvis YOU'RE 15 YRS OLD AND MAKING A TAPE FOR YOUR GF/BF, NAME THREE SONGS YOU WOULD PUT ON THE TAPE: Misfits-London Dungeon; The Cult-King Contrary Man; Pulp-Common People...because it hasn't been released yet, and won't for over a decade and I could tell her I wrote it. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE CARTOON AS A CHILD: All of 'em... Looney Toons, Smurfs, Godzilla....all of 'em! DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS AND/OR PIERCINGS: A snake on my wrist. Just found out that my left ear is still pierced (hadn't had an earring in it since I was 14). WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Monster. SPOTLIGHT STORY: In the Beginning. First there were dinosaurs but they died and turned into oil. Then the Arabs came and bought Mercedes Benzes. Then I was born a poor black child, but later found out I was really white...AGE 13: Knew I was gonna be a musician. Mom gave me her acoustic guitar (to this day every song I've ever written was written on it... I call it my "magic guitar") but I craved distortion. Bought a Sears electric guitar and amp for $100.00 AGE 14: Confirmed at Messiah Lutheran Church... still, nobody was able to explain who the hell Cain's wife was...Pierced left ear. AGE 18: Quit high school a semester early and moved to L.A. with a friend to be a rock star...ended up delivering pizza. Moved back to Texas a year later and eventually founded Southern Backtones. THE REST: I've always been a nature nut - lightning, snakes, tornadoes, scorpions, oh my! I think most people want to take a peek out the window at severe weather. My fixation is just a step up from that...perhaps a tad bit more fanatical. I remember sitting on an ugly orange '70's couch when I was 5 watching the Wizard of Oz. That tornado was so scary and real, I was hooked. I had to see one with my own eyes. Then I'd hear there was a tornado watch and I'd run out in the backyard wondering "Where? I can't see it!" After 20 years of doing that I realized the only way I was ever going to see a tornado was if I learned how to forecast and intercept one myself. Man generally has hunting instincts. Some hunt ducks, squirrels or deer, or maybe even lions. I hunt tornadoes and lightning. Nothing compares to the big game tornado hunts in May and June...blazing down dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, stopping to photo the occasional rattlesnake, tarantula or box turtle, all the while predicting and intercepting something as allusive as a tornado is a childhood dream come true. To me it's what makes America so great...the small towns, the weird sites and the animals. It's a collaboration of science, technology, problem solving and adventure. To me it's living. EDELMAN REVIEW: "Texas-based Hank Schyma is a true American original." Rock star front man for one of Houston's hottest bands-Hank is also a professional storm photographer and bona fide animal expert. Former head of a reptile breeding facility, he oversaw a population of 400 snakes and managed to breed 100 different species in captivity. Over the years he's developed a thorough knowledge of the wildlife that lives in the deserts, swamps, mountains and rivers of the South and Southwest. Hank also chases tornadoes...okay, he's a little crazy...while studying biology at the University of Houston, he made ends meet working at the CBS affiliate in Houston. There, long time friend and meteorologist Dr. Neil Frank began Hank's training forecasting thunderstorms. Here's the thing: Hank has almost an uncanny-almost supernatural-ability to discover wildlife wherever he goes. On tour with the band, Hank loves to jump out of the car-in minutes he's found a rare snake-or bird or turtle or scorpion-something no one else knew was there. And he can tell you what makes it such a cool animal." -------------------------------- Driving rental cars into hail storms, surfing in Mexico, capturing lightning on film with old Nikons and consuming immense amounts of sugar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDNEtLaijY4 I'm currently directing a horror film based loosely on the Houston music scene and how freaky and great it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSUCa_p6qe4 The Backtone's have 2 videos produced and directed by Ross Wells of Zen film that are tearing up the charts in Sri Lanka, Germany and Montrose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOPvdFy8Z4I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSlcKZj3gCQ
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